Manchester City demolishes Liverpool 0-3 at Anfield as Gravenberch red card proves decisive

Manchester City walked away from Anfield with a dominance the scoreline makes abundantly clear: 0-3. The match was tight and goalless through the entire first half, but a red card changed the complexion of the game at just the right moment for City to put it away in twenty minutes.

The turning point came in the 61st minute: Ryan Gravenberch picked up a second yellow card for dangerous play and left Liverpool down to ten men. Manchester City wasted no time capitalizing. Three minutes later, in the 64th, Erling Haaland finished with his left foot from the center of the box to open the scoring. Anfield had no time to regroup: in the 67th minute, Jeremy Doku cut inside with his right foot from the left side of the box, assisted by Elliot Anderson, and curled it into the top right corner to make it 0-2. The third goal arrived in the 77th minute: Rayan Cherki tapped in from close range after a headed pass from Josko Gvardiol, sealing the final 0-3.

An even first half broken open by the red card

Before the sending-off, the match had been far more balanced than the final result suggests. Liverpool had their chances: Victor Munoz tested the City goal early, Alexis Mac Allister headed on target from a Florian Wirtz cross, and right at the start of the second half there was a flurry of home attempts with Lewis Koumas, Bradley Barcola, Ryan Gravenberch and Mac Allister himself all looking for the opener. Manchester City answered with Enzo Fernandez and Rayan Cherki trying their luck from outside the box, without finding the net. With eleven against eleven, the contest held steady. Gravenberch's red card completely rewrote the script: with a man advantage and space to work with, City took over, finishing with 64.6 percent possession and settling the match in just three sequences of play.

The numbers behind the dominance

Oddly enough, Liverpool had more shots on target (6 to 4), and based on our after-the-fact estimate using shot location, the match's xG came out fairly even: 0.87 for Liverpool versus 1.54 for Manchester City. That number tells a different story than the scoreline: City generated more danger, but the three-goal margin had as much to do with the second-half numerical advantage as with overwhelming attacking output across the full 90 minutes.

Heading into the match, our projection gave Manchester City a 44 percent chance of winning, against 29 percent for Liverpool and 27 percent for a draw, with expected goals of 1.34 for the home side and 1.67 for the visitors. The final result, a decisive 0-3, far exceeded what we anticipated for City, though the direction of the forecast, an away favorite, did hold up.

What the result means in the standings

The win leaves Manchester City in first place with 18 points, having won all six of their Premier League matches so far. Liverpool, meanwhile, sit in ninth place with 9 points, nine points behind the leaders according to the table. For Liverpool, beyond the defeat, there is also the matter of Gravenberch's suspension for the next match following his red card, while Manchester City add another solid away performance that confirms their strong start to the season.